Electrical hand tools and the like typically incorporate on-off switches or other means for applying and/or regulating the application of line current to a motor. Such switches may either apply full line current to the motor or, through a variable resistance or other control network, the power to the motor may be regulated or controlled. In either case, interconnections are necessarily made between wires providing a line voltage and wires interconnected with the motor. Such interconnections may typically be made in the United States by the use of plug-in connectors of the type in which a wire is simply inserted into engagement with a spring clip which urges the wire into conducting communication with an appropriate terminal. However, some approval agencies, particularly those in countries other than the United States, require that wires to a unit carrying line voltage be secured by means of screw-in connectors, in which the wire is inserted into one bore of the connector and secured therein by means of a screw received within an interconnecting threaded bore. Obviously, this latter type of interconnection is more complex and more expensive than the plug-in connector.
Typically, United States manufacturers design their equipment for implementation of plug-in connectors. When the product is sold abroad, it must be converted for the screw-in terminals in order to receive appropriate approval in the foreign market. Rather than redesign the entire switch assembly to accommodate the different terminals, it is most desired that an adaptor be provided to convert the plug-in terminal for the line voltage to a screw-in terminal for such markets.
It is further known that the use of filters or noise suppressors between the line source and motor in hand tools and the like is most desirable to filter out and/or reduce voltage spikes, transients, and the like. Accordingly, for any adaptor of the type mentioned above, it is important to provide a means for including a filter or noise suppressor.
Previously, no adapters for converting from plug-in to screw-in terminals were known, particularly those which include the provision of implementing a filter device across the line and motor.